Tiger Woods’ Children Would Rather Be Messi Than Their Dad

While his return to golf is still up in the air, Tiger Woods keeps finding himself at the short end of the stick.

When writing about Woods, Steve DiMeglio of USA Today asked his soccer-mad children if they would rather be Lionel Messi on the pitch or Tiger on the golf course. Both Woods’ son and daughter picked the Barcelona star with six-year-old Charlie explaining: “He’s playing.”

Woods then pretended to hang his head in shame before breaking out in laughter and adding, “Well, he’s right.”

Tiger is still sidelined by a bad back that has required three surgeries. Before even returning to the course, though, there’s another athletic level he would like to reach.

“The kids are so into soccer, and they always want to play, and I can’t do that,” said Woods, whose physical exertion is limited to light stretching and walking. “I have to be the best cheerleader I can possibly be. But still, it’s nothing like interacting with my kids and being a part of their lives and being out there with them. I just hope I can do that soon.”

In all seriousness, though, Woods is nearing 40 and enduring one of the toughest stretches of his career. No one, not even Tiger himself, knows when he’ll return to golf, let alone return to the golfer he once was. And while it may not even be possible, almost everyone surely has their fingers crossed that it is.

Photo: Tiger Woods by Keith Allison via Flickr Commons